May 29, 2015 - Gratitude is a healing, empowering activity that's free to do, easy, and a fast way to feel more in love with oneself and ones life.

For this workshop with middle-school young women at Red Hook Initiative, the discussion focused on how it feels to be thankful, and why being thankful impacts people in a positive way.

Each student received a blank journal, and wrote a list of 10 things for which she felt gratitude. Some students then shared their lists with the group out loud. Then they decorated their journals with oil pastels, markers and appliques, in order to beautify their new sacred spaces in which to write and draw about their hopes, fears and dreams - and their gratitude.